
The Catcher in the Rye
In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, the first person 
narration is critical in helping the reader to know and understand 
the main character, Holden Caulfield. Holden, in his narration, 
relates a flashback of a significant period of his life, three days 
and nights on his own in New York City. Through his narration, 
Holden discloses to the reader his innermost thoughts and feelings. 
He thus provides the reader not only with information of what 
occurred, but also how he felt about what happened.
Holden's thoughts and ideas reveal many of his character 
traits. One late Saturday night, four days before the beginning of 
school vacation, Holden is alone, bored and restless, wondering 
what to do. He decides to leave Pencey, his school, at once and 
travels to New York by train. He decides that, once in New York, 
he will stay in a cheap motel until Wednesday, when he is to return 
home. His plan shows the reader how very impetuous he is and how 
he acts on a whim. He is unrealistic, thinking that he has a 
foolproof plan, even though the extent of his plans are to take a 
room in a hotel.., and just take it easy till Wednesday. 
Holden's excessive thoughts on death are not typical of most 
adolescents. His near obsession with death might come from having 
experienced two deaths in his early life. He constantly dwells on 
Allie, his brother's, death. From Holden's thoughts, it is obvious 
that he loves and misses Allie. In order to hold on to his brother 
and to minimize the pain of his loss, Holden brings Allie's 
baseball mitt along with him where ever he goes. The mitt has 
additional meaning and significance for Holden because Allie had 
written poetry, which Holden reads, on the baseball mitt. Holden's 
preoccupation with death can be seen in his contemplation of a dead 
classmate, James Castle. It tells the reader something about 
Holden that he lends his turtleneck sweater to this classmate, with 
whom he is not at all close. 
Holden's feelings about people reveal more of his positive 
traits. He constantly calls people phonies, even his brother, 
D.B., who  has sold out to Hollywood. Although insulting, his 
seemingly negative feelings show that Holden is a thinking and 
analyzing, outspoken individual who values honesty and sincerity. 
He is unimpressed with people who try to look good in other's eyes. 
Therefore, since it is obvious that Holden is bright, the reason 
for his flunking out of school would seem to be from a lack of 
interest. 
Holden has strong feelings of love towards children as 
evidenced through his caring for Phoebe, his little sister. He is 
protective of her, erasing bad words from the walls in her school 
and in a museum, in order that she not learn from the graffiti. 
His fondness for children can be inferred when he tells her that, 
at some time in the future, he wants to be the only grown-up with 
all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye 
and all. He'll stand on the edge of a cliff and catch anybody who 
starts to fall off the edge of the cliff. He got this image from 
his misinterpretation of a line from the Robert Burns poem,  if a 
body catch a body comin' through the rye.
When situations are described, in person or in a book, they 
are influenced by the one who describes them, and by his or her 
perceptions and experiences. Through Holden's expressions of his 
thoughts and feelings, the reader sees a youth, sensitive to his 
surroundings, who chooses to deal with life in unique ways. Holden 
is candid, spontaneous, analytical, thoughtful, and sensitive, as 
evidenced by his narration. Like most adolescents, feelings about 
people and relationships are often on his mind. Unfortunately, in 
Holden's case, he seems to expect the worst, believing that the 
result of getting close to people is pain. Pain when others reject 
you or pain when they leave you, such as when a friend walks off or 
a beloved brother dies. It would not have been possible to feel 
Holden's feelings or understand his thoughts nearly as well had the 
book been written in third person.
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